He's Found the One
by lerhemichelle
Summary: Warning: This story is not a lit. Rory and Jess have gone separate ways but now, Jess has his life together and Rory's is falling apart. When she finally finds him, it's too late...
1. Hey Stud

Okay, this story is not a LIT. It is in the Rory/Jess catagory because 1. it is a romatic story 2. the two main characters are Rory and Jess and 3. Just because a story is in the Rory/Jess Romantic catagory DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT HAS TO BE RORY AND JESS TOGETHER ROMANTICALLY. If you are completely against any other paring other than Rory and Jess then I suggest you do not read this story, in fact you might want to cease watching the show because it's not going there.

Set on the day of Lorelai and Luke's wedding, we're pretending the two of them made up and had the wedding in August. Rory and Logan have decided to take a break, but Rory hasn't gone out with anyone since Logan left. Luke has moved completely into Lorelai's house, but there are still a few things up there…

Oh yeah, I don't own Gilmore Girls.

* * *

Lorelai walked to Luke's diner to meet her daughter and have her usual morning coffee fix. She passed my many of the town folk and they all acknowledged her warmly. Lorelai spotted Mrs. Patty walking towards her; she stopped. 

"Hi, Patty," Lorelai greeted her friend.

"Hello, Lorelai, big day huh?" Patty smiled at Lorelai.

"Big as any other day," Lorelai said. She watched a short, skinny girl sprinting through the town square bedecked with runner's gear.

"Patty, who is that?" Lorelai asked pointing at the speedy newcomer.

"I don't know this is the first time I've seen her, maybe she's a distant relative of Luke's or something," Patty replied mysteriously.

Lorelai entered the diner after stopping by Sookie's house to make sure everything was on schedule. She sat down at a table next to Rory.

"Hey, did you see that girl running in the square?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, weird, huh? I've never seen her before, neither has Mrs. Patty," Lorelai said looking around for Luke.

"Mrs. Patty's never seen her?" Rory was surprised. "She was running when I was walking here, and then I went into Mrs. Kim's for like a minute, and then she was gone."

"Hm," Lorelai said.

Lane walked up with two cups and a pot of coffee. "Hi, girls, how about some coffee?" Lane poured them cups and walked away quickly.

"What was that about?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know…" Rory said.

Luke appeared at their table.

"Hey, I thought I told you not to come this morning. The bride and groom are not supposed to see each other on the day of the wedding until the wedding," Luke said after giving Lorelai a kiss.

"And miss your coffee? Are you crazy?" Lorelai said. "Hey, I can't find my Hello Kitty socks, are they upstairs?"

"You can go look, but most of the stuff is gone." Luke walked away.

"You know, he's right about the bride and groom thing, it's tradition," Rory said.

"Well I say, to hell with tradition!" Lorelai stood up to go up to Luke's old apartment, then turned back around, drank the rest of her coffee and continued up to the apartment.

She opened the door and gasped. The running girl from the square was on the floor of Luke's old apartment, doing crunches.

"Oh my god!" She gasped.

"Hey, Lorelai," a deep, familiar voice said. Lorelai looked up to see Jess sitting on the old couch reading a book.

"Jess! What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, we're here for the wedding."

"My wedding?"

"Are there any other weddings going on that I should know about?" Jess smirked. "This is Lenny," he indicated the girl now doing a backbend stretch.

Lenny stood up gracefully and smiled. "Hi, you must be Lorelai!" Lenny extended her hand for Lorelai to shake, which Lorelai did. "It's really nice to meet you."

"Yeah, uh, same here…" Lorelai turned back to Jess. "You know, it's the funniest thing, Luke didn't tell me you were up here, so… I'll just… go," Lorelai turned towards the door.

"Great seeing you again." Jess called after her.

Lorelai made her way back down to the diner.

"Did you find them?" Rory asked.

"Huh? Wha – oh uh yeah, I found _them_…" Lorelai said.

* * *

Jess looked over at his girlfriend. He was lucky to have found her. She was so wonderful; smart, beautiful, and amazing. He felt a little bad about coming to Lorelai's wedding with her, especially since he had heard everything that had happened with Rory and that jerk of an ex-boyfriend she had. Lenny noticed him looking at her, and stood up. 

"Hey, what's goin' on stud?" Jess loved her slight southern accent; she punched him softly on the shoulder, and then sat in his lap.

"Nothing much." Jess replied before kissing her full on the lips.

Lenny broke away from Jess and smiled at him. "I'm gonna take a shower, mm'kay?" She rubbed her nose against his and stood up and walked over to the bathroom. He watched her go, and remembered something significant.

* * *

"_Hey," The dark haired girl sitting at her desk said, turning around._

"_Hey," He said back, keeping cool, damn, she was very pretty. _

"_I'm Rory," Rory said_

"_Yeah, I figured." Jess said trying to find something to occupy his eyes other than her face._

"_Nice to meet you," she said._

_His eyes found the stuffed bookshelf. "Wow, aren't we hooked on phonics," he said sarcastically._

"_Oh, I read a lot," she said unnecessarily. "Do you read?" _

"_Not much," Jess said still keeping his cool. He picked up one of his favorite books from one of her shelves._

"_I could loan you that if you want. It's great," she said._

"_No thanks," he had an interesting idea. He put the book down for now._

"_Well, if you change your mind…" she seemed almost disappointed._

* * *

"**_Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Jess had bumped into and almost knocked over a short girl with long curly brown hair. "I wasn't watching where I was goin'!" Jess bent down to help her pick up her fallen books._**

"**_Political Science, huh?" he examined one of the many thick books she had dropped before handing it to her. She had a nice body, toned muscles and freckly tan skin. She was wearing old-looking shorts and a tank top with a button down shirt. He noticed one of her hands was tanner than the other. Odd._**

"**_Yeah, I think politics are really interesting," she took her book from him and looked right into his eyes. Jess paused for a second, mesmerized by her bright green eyes._**

"**_I'm Jess," he said handing her the rest of her things, standing up, and offering her his hand to help her up. "Jess Mariano." She took his hand and stood up, then shook it._**

"**_Lenny Michie. Well, Belinda, but I hate that, I mean, I'm not from a Charles Dickens novel." She had a kind of sexy alto voice and she spoke with a slight southern accent._**

"**_Ah, you hate your name, but do you also hate Charles Dickens?" Jess asked._**

"**_Are you kidding? Tale of Two Cities is my absolute favorite book ever," Lenny said, relaxing some. Jess smiled at her._**

"**_So are you a student here?" She asked him as they started walking together. Penn State, he was on the campus of Penn State, but what for again?_**

"**_No… I had a meeting with the book store owner," Jess said._**

"_**For a job?"**_

"**_Not exactly, I was trying to get him to stock my book." _**

"**_Wow, you wrote a book?" Lenny said, looking at her watch._**

"**_Yeah, uh, do you have to go somewhere?" Jess asked. "I was about to ask you to get a cup of coffee with me."_**

"**_No, I mean, that'd be great," Lenny said, beckoning for him to follow her._**

"**_Okay…"_**

* * *

The shower stopped. Jess shook his head from his reminiscing. He looked up to see Lenny combing her hair in the bathroom mirror. He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek. 

"I'm going to go get some breakfast," Jess told her.

"I'll meet you there in a couple of minutes," she said.

Jess descended the stairs down to his uncle's diner. Figuring he'd help out a little until Lenny came down, he turned immediately behind the counter and grabbed the coffee pot. Jess walked the length of the counter without looking at the crowd. He knew she was there, he'd been a little afraid how he'd feel seeing Rory again. Jess hadn't seen his old flame since she had come to his bookstore. He remembered thinking she had broken up with The Jerk. He had kissed her, and then she told him she was still with him. He had been mad, but he hadn't shown it. Only two weeks after the incident, he had met Lenny. He finally turned in Rory's direction, and, only stopping to fill people's cups, he walked over to her and her mom. She looked up at him, slightly surprised. He looked right into her eyes. Yes. He felt nothing. That old rising feeling in his chest he used to feel when he saw her was gone. That particular feeling was now reserved specifically for Lenny. Good. He knew he loved her. This was just what he needed as complete proof.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he said. Jess filled Rory's coffee cup and walked away without another word. Rory turned to her mother.

"Mom! Were you going to tell me?" Rory whispered.

"Sorry! I was just trying to find the right time to tell you," Lorelai exclaimed. "But I guess I should probably tell you something else."

"What?" Rory asked.

"Well, um, Jess isn't alone."

Rory whirled around to look towards the curtain that separated Luke's diner with Luke's apartment. The running girl emerged. She looked like she wasn't sure what she should do until Jess went over to her and pecked her on the cheek and spoke to her quietly.

"Jess!" Lorelai called out.

"Mom!" Rory whispered as Jess looked over to them. Lorelai waved Jess and his girl over.

"Do you guys want to join us?" Lorelai asked, kicking Rory under the table.

"Sure, thanks," the girl said and she and Jess sat down. "I'm Lenny," Lenny said to Rory.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rory," Rory sipped her coffee then stood up suddenly. "Uh, I have to go talk to Sookie." She left quickly. Rory let the door slam behind her. What is he doing? Who was that? What kind of name is Lenny? He's just flaunting her. He probably paid her. No, that's crazy, that poor girl must have no idea what's going on. Is he doing this on purpose? Does he know about her and Logan? That jackass…

Rory walked around the town a half an hour before arriving at the Dragonfly Inn.


	2. Among others

Lenny was finishing up her make-up in the bathroom. She liked weddings, they made her feel happy. She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but she was very glad that Jess had asked her to be his date. Maybe this would be the start of something special. But she didn't want to get her hopes up. She'd only known Jess about four months.

"Hey," Jess called from the adjacent room. "Are we going already?"

"Just a second," Lenny stepped out of the bathroom and modeled the dress she had borrowed from her roommate for her boyfriend.

"Wow, Lenny, you look… amazing," Jess stood and took in how the black dress accented her weird jersey tans.

"Thank you. Now are we goin' already?"

"Touché." Jess said dropping the book he had been reading. He looked very handsome in his dark suit.

They went down the stairs together and walked to the inn together, talking about everything, yet nothing really.

* * *

The couple arrived in the lavishly decorated front lawn of the Dragonfly Inn where a chuppah had been placed and folding chairs spread out around it. Lenny and Jess filed into two chairs in the middle. A few minutes later music began to play. Lenny watched Rory and the woman she assumed to be Sookie process down the aisle. When the bridal processional music began, Lenny stood with Jess beside her, holding her hand. When Lorelai reached the front, everyone sat down. Jess squeezed Lenny's hand. 

Rory stood next to Sookie and her mother, but was barely listening to the vows or anything else that was going on in the ceremony. She kept sneaking peeks at Jess and Lenny. He had his arm around her small shoulders; they looked almost sickening. Rory tried to turn her attention back to the wedding but was fairly unsuccessful.

"I now present, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Danes," the minister proclaimed. Rory snapped her attention back to the wedding and processed out with her mother. She looked straight in Jess's direction and saw her whispering in his ear, and he was smiling. Rory felt like crying.

* * *

Jess sat at a table with Lenny at the reception. Lenny was watching Lorelai and Luke dance their ceremonial first dance. 

"Do you want a drink?" he asked her.

"Yeah, Shirley Temple?"

Jess walked over to the bar and spoke to the bartender.

"Hey, Shirley Temple and a beer, please," he told the bartender. He sensed someone behind him, he turned.

"Rory, how nice to see you again," Jess said, smirking.

"Hello, Jess," Rory replied flatly. "Manhattan?" She said to the bartender.

"So, I see you've been busy."

"Come again?" Jess asked playfully. He was going to give her her comeuppance; he had seen her looking at him throughout the ceremony, staring more like.

"The girl?" Rory spat out.

"Ah, Lenny. Yes, you two didn't really get a chance to talk, I'll call her over." He turned in her direction, but Rory grabbed his arm.

"Don't." Rory looked straight at Jess and shifted her face close to his; he didn't move. "Can we talk?" she whispered.

"If you insist," Jess took his and Lenny's drinks from the bartender and followed Rory out into the hall.

"What is going on here?" Rory huffed once they were out of earshot.

"What do you mean?" Jess asked in mock surprise. "Are you talking about Lenny?"

"No, Babette. Yes, Lenny! And what kind of name is Lenny anyway?" Rory said.

"It's short for Belinda – "

"And, I know exactly what you are doing." Rory cut him off.

"Oh, what am I doing?" Jess sat the drinks down on a small table.

"Bringing her here, I know that you know I broke up with Logan, and I know that you think he's a jerk but that doesn't mean you can bring some girl to my mother's wedding and flaunt her around just to make me jealous." Rory took a deep breath and was about to start up again before Jess cut her off.

"So that's what you think is going on here?" Jess was a little mad now. It wasn't like her to be jealous like this. "Well, let me tell you that you are wrong. I happen to have found a wonderful person whom I love, and you think I brought her here to make you jealous. I spent 3 years wasting my life hung up on you until I realized that I was crazy! You don't love me anymore. But, that's okay! I've found someone great. And now you know that I didn't wait around pining for you forever like _Dean_ did. So, now, you want me to drop everything to come back to you just because you're lonely? _Think again_, **_Rory_**."

Jess snatched up the drinks and marched back into the dining room.

* * *

How dare he talk to Rory like that? He was just making things up. Rory downed her drink, and then returned to the dining room. There were more couples dancing on the dance floor now, Jess and Lenny were among them, doing some kind of fancy swing dancing. She walked over to her table and sat down, seething. 

Half an hour later, Lorelai came over.

"Hey, babe, why aren't you dancing?"

"Oh, I'm just taking a break you know." Rory put on a smile.

"Rory, what's wrong?"

"It's them!"

"Jess?" Lorelai glanced at where Rory was staring.

"Yes! He's just flaunting that girl," Rory said.

"Are you sure? She's really nice, and Jess really seemed to like her" Lorelai said.

"It would seem that way, wouldn't?"

"Look, I'll go talk to him." Lorelai stood up.

* * *

"You ready to take a break?" Jess asked Lenny. 

"Where's all that masculine stamina you're supposed to have?" Lenny asked playfully.

"It's all in your head," he joked.

"Let's sit."

Jess lead Lenny over to their table. But he was intercepted by Lorelai.

"Hey, got a minute?" she said.

"I'll meet you at the table," Lenny said, leaving them.

"Hey great wedding, really – "

"I just want you to know that I think you are scum."

"Wha – "

"Parading that girl around in front of my daughter, you know she and Logan split up recently, you know she's hurting," Lorelai said.

"Look, I'm not parading Lenny. Maybe it's time _your daughter_ got a taste of her own medicine." Jess snarled.

"What?" Lorelai said, offended.

"I spent three years hung up on Rory, and I've finally found someone more important to me than Rory has been, and everyone's looking at me like I'm the bad guy? Rory never had any problem flaunting that blond jerk around me back when I was hurting, so yeah, I guess I am the bad guy. Gosh, _Mrs. Danes_, sorry, but Lenny is my girlfriend. I love her." Jess sneered.

"You will never find a girl as wonderful as Rory." Lorelai whispered.

"Oh, I won't, will I?" Jess strode out into the lobby. Lorelai followed. Jess ran his fingers through his hair and turned to her. "You know, you kept telling me that, Luke kept telling me that, _everyone_ kept telling me that, until, I almost believed it. But guess what? I did find a girl as wonderful as Rory. In fact I'd be as **bold** as to say that Lenny's even more wonderful. She's worked **hard **to get where she is. She's going to Penn State with a part athletic scholarship. She has to get five more academic scholarships just to make tuition. She doesn't have rich grandparents to get her through school. She plays softball _and_ tennis. She works her ass off just to make ends meet. And she would **never** quit _anything_ just because someone told her she couldn't do it. So, if you ask me, I'd say I proved everyone wrong. Now, if you'll excuse me, my girlfriend is waiting." He walked back into the dining room, leaving Lorelai fuming.

He saw Lenny waltzing with Luke on the dance floor. She was appeared to be speaking to him with her politics/history voice, and Jess was not surprised to see that Luke looked less than stimulated. He watched them for a moment before strolling over.

"Excuse me, sir, may I cut in?" he said to Luke with fake manners, offering his hand to the love of his life.

"Oh darn, you'll have to tell me more about that trial later," Luke said to Lenny before giving her a hug and leaving quickly.

"Scopes Trial?"

"How'd ya know?" Lenny asked.

"You love that trial; you've got a whole shelf devoted to books about that trial." Jess said spinning Lenny around a few times then bringing her back in close.

"It's not a whole shelf." Jess gave her a look. "Okay, it's a whole shelf."

That danced in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey, Lenny?"

"Mmm?"

"I love you." Jess said.

"I love you too, Jess." Lenny smiled at him as he kissed her.

* * *


	3. He's Your Cousin

Rory got up from where she was sitting at her table. She had seen her mother talking to Jess, but then she lost track of them. She wandered around aimlessly for a little while until she found herself in the coatroom. 'I'll tell mom I'm feeling a hangover coming on and I wanted to get some sleep or something. She'll understand.'

"Rory?" Rory whirled around when she heard her name. Lenny or whatever her name is was standing near her with a severely out of style coat and Jess's leather jacket in her arms.

"Yeah?"

"I thought that was you," Lenny said. "You left so suddenly this morning I didn't really get a chance to meet you."

Rory stared at her for a minute.

"So… I'm uh, Belinda Michie, Lenny," Lenny said.

"Rory…" Rory replied wondering what she was supposed to say to this girl.

"I know… well, thank your mom for inviting us," Lenny started to turn towards the door.

"Yeah, so um, how long have you and Jess been together?" Rory couldn't help herself.

"Not too long, little over three months I think. I met him in late April, I guess it was," Lenny said, trying to pick up what Rory was getting at.

"You know Jess and me used to date."

"I'd heard," Lenny seemed to be longing to leave. After a moment she spoke again. "Heh, that's kinda gross."

"What?"

"He's your cousin," Lenny started laughing.

"Well he wasn't then."

"Yeah, it was nice meetin' you," Lenny turned toward the door and disappeared through the entryway.

Rory yanked her coat off the rack and stuffed her arms through the sleeves.

* * *

Lenny walked up to Jess and Luke. 

"Hey," Jess said taking his jacket from Lenny and helping her with hers. "I guess we're going to get going."

"Thank you so much for invitin' us." Lenny said. Luke hugged her and shook Jess's hand.

Jess put his arm around Lenny's shoulders as they walked out of the inn and through the streets of Stars Hallow.

"I would love to live somewhere like this," Lenny said.

"Don't say that lightly, it can be a nightmare," Jess sneered remembering his junior year of high school.

"It can't be that bad."

"Sorry, but did you meet Mrs. Patty?" Jess laughed.

"So there's a lot of gossip but where isn't there?" Lenny said.

"Just wait to see what they say about you, I've already heard a Nicole Kidman reference." Jess smarted.

"So who are you?"

"Rocky?" Lenny smiled and wrapped her arm around him. They walked the rest of the way to Luke's in happy silence.

* * *

"Well that was fun," Lorelai said to her husband in the back of the limo they rented to take them to the airport. 

"It was, wasn't it?" The newly-wed couple kissed.

"Remember what happened the last time you went on a cruise?" Lorelai snuggled up against Luke.

"Don't remind me."

* * *

Rory was wandering aimlessly through the town; she didn't want to go home yet. Finally she stumbled onto the gazebo steps and sat there sadly. 

"Rory?" a resonant basso profundo voice spoke.

"Rory jerked her head up to see Dean standing in front of her.

"Dean! Hi. Uh, what are you doing here?" Rory stuttered, standing.

"I could ask you the same thing. What's going on?" Dean said.

"Well, I was as my mom's wedding and I didn't feel like going home so I just sat down and then you came and my god, I'm babbling." Rory stammered.

"Are you okay, you look sad," Dean said to her.

"Well, I'm just happy for my mom and a little messed up about Logan, he broke up with me." Rory said, feeling more and more like a complete idiot.

"Do you want to talk?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, let's go back to my mom's house."

* * *

The next morning, Lenny and Jess were packing to drive back to Philadelphia. 

"Back to the bump and grind I guess." Lenny said as she tossed her bag into the backseat of Jess's old car. "Ugh, I have a Public Policy test tomorrow."

"Oooh, Public Policy, fun." Jess teased. "You ready to go?"

Lenny turned to look at Luke's one more time. "Yep." She got into the passenger side and opened her Policy book. Jess turned over the engine and they were on their way home.

* * *

"You know, when I asked of you wanted to talk, this is not what I had in mind." Dean said, getting up and pulling on his clothes. 

Rory sighed.

"I've got to go work." Dean found his wallet on Rory's dresser.

"On a Sunday?"

"I'm a working man, I'll see you," Dean kissed Rory and left her room.

* * *

Jess arrived at Lenny's residence hall later that day. He got out, grabbed her bag and accompanied her to her room. They stopped at her door. 

"Well, Mr. Mariano, I had a lovely time," Lenny said.

"As did I," Jess leaned toward her and kissed her.

Lenny took her bag from him and entered her room.

"Bye."

Jess walked back to his car and drove back to his apartment thinking about Lenny. And Rory. And Luke. And Shane. Hmmm. He smiled while thinking of Lenny again.

* * *

Okay, sorry it's so short, but this is all I need this chapter to do. I hate worthless scenes that don't give anything to the plot. I think I'm making Jess into more of a romantic than he is in the series, but I've always sucked at writing other people's characters. Review please! 

P.S. I'm pretty new to fanfiction and I don't know all the lingo, so if you please write out what you mean if you reveiw and if you reveiw I will love you so much!

And stop asking who's going to be paired with who, I'm not telling...yet.


	4. I've Seen You Before

Rory snapped her phone shut. How dare he? How _dare_ he? She had been trying to call Dean to hook up later. Not hook up so much as _hook up_, just hook up. Then she had been away from her phone for two seconds when he had left that voice mail.

* * *

'_Hey Rory, I got your messages. I think we kind of misread signals. I'm sorry. I don't know how to say this. I don't want to be with you. Gosh, that sounds terrible. What I mean is, I can't be in a normal relationship with you Rory, we're just not right. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.' **Beeeeeeeeeep**_

* * *

Lenny was sleeping peacefully. She was dreaming she was in Stars Hallow. She was going to college there. With Jess, and all her friends. Jess was holding her books for her and standing next to her, the edge of one of her economics book kept poking her gently… 

Jess was sitting on the very edge of her bed. He was smiling.

"Hey, I thought we could watch the sun rise," Jess whispered, kissing her lightly.

"Okay, let me get my shoes." Lenny slipped on her tennis shoes and brushed her hair into the tamest poof she could.

Jess met her at the door and they climbed up to the roof together. Lenny gasped when they reached the top of the building. Jess had laid out a little tablecloth with coffee and doughnuts. They sat down together and watched the sun rise. Pretty soon Lenny got fairly suspicious. Jess was sweet, but he would never to any thing like this without an agenda. After the sun was shining in the sky, Lenny was beginning to ridicule herself for getting ahead of things. She stood up before Jess did. When he didn't stand, she looked down at him…on one knee.

"Oh my god," she murmured as he took her hand.

"Lenny, I love you." Jess smiled. "And I know this may be sudden or too soon or whatever anyone might say. I've messed up a lot in my life, but I know that if I don't ask you now, I will have messed up worse than anything I ever have done or will do – "

"Just say it already!" Lenny screamed out of pure emotion. Jess smiled even more widely.

"Belinda, Lenny Michie, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Lenny cried. Jess jumped up and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up; he spun her around a few times. It was cliché, but she loved it.

* * *

The talk of the town was that Jess and that girl he brought to the wedding were getting married. And Rory was miserable. 

It wasn't fair that all the people close to her were getting married. Her mother, Luke, Lane, and now Jess. Jess, the man she identified as her 'Christopher', the one she swore was right for her if he could only get it together. They could have made it work. Why did Rory waste her time with Logan, she could have had Jess? But he slipped through her fingers, just as Dean had done previously, she had thrown him aside for Jess, and then again for Logan. It just wasn't fair.

Rory hadn't talked to Jess since the wedding. Before that she hadn't talked to him for four months. Enough time for him to go get himself a new and improved Rory. That's all that girl is. What was that crap he had spilled? Political Science? What kind of hokey major is that? He said she worked hard. Well, Rory worked hard too. And that name! Ro-ry, Len-ny, Ro-ry, Len-ny, yeah, like that's a coincidence. It would never work, she was sure of that.

Rory stood in front of an old apartment building. She was now trying to talk herself into entering. It had taken her a while to coax herself out of her car. She had now been standing in front of this god-forsaken building for 20 minutes. It was good she'd had so much debate practice in high school; otherwise she would have left 19 minutes and 59 seconds ago. She took a few steps forward, and then retreated quickly. She knew she probably looked like a drowning fish, but the bickering match going on in her head prevented her from caring. After several more minutes of this, she looked up once more and made a decision.

* * *

Lenny hit the large rubber ball zooming towards her at 70 miles per hour. She liked coming to the batting cages when she was feeling bogged down with stuff. And right now, there was an internal battle going on inside her head. Luckily, it was the off-season so the cages were empty. 

She hadn't been able to wait to tell her father the news. He had been happy for her, but concerned. Everything was happening so fast. The truth was that they _had_ only known each other four months. She knew she wanted to marry Jess. But she was just a sophomore in college. She hadn't done anything yet. Did she really want to get married to a man she'd know a less than half a year at 20 years old?

She whacked another ball into the empty cage.

But it was _Jess_. He was perfect. Perfect for her anyway. But did she know that? Could you know that after four months? Possible, but unlikely. Politics had taught her it was better to trust, but trust at a distance. The seemingly most trustworthy were usually the ones embezzling funds from some corporation for their own personal benefit. But life wasn't political. It was just…life.

Lenny was loosing her rhythm. She was stepping too soon and pulling her head out. She mashed the button for another round. She bunted. She slapped. She swung away. She switched sides and bunted again. She missed. She couldn't get her bunt to go left like it was supposed to. She switched back. Lefty was always better for her. She thought of when she used to bat right-handed like everyone else; she wasn't any good, she couldn't hit, she couldn't bunt, she couldn't slap, she was worthless at the plate. Until she had jumped into the lefty's box one day as a joke and hit the most beautiful extra-base hit to shallow left field she had ever seen come off her bat.

Another ball came, it looked like a riseball. She pulled her bunt attempting bat out of the way just in time.

Maybe you could work at something forever and never get it right, then all of a sudden try something new and – wham – it was there, it was right. Just like she could search forever for that one person or she could see that he was right in front of her.

She tried slapping the ball.

She remembered the odd, new feeling of holding the bat oppositely, stepping with her right foot, using the other arm to guide the bat for the first time. It had felt wonderful, right. It was like Jess. Jess was her lefty's box.

The ball came, fast and flat. She hit it in the bat in the exact right spot. Straight up the right side. The perfect angle for a squeeze bunt.

* * *

Jess had finished calling all the stupid people on his mom's list. She had wanted him to call not only every single person in the Renaissance Fair circuit, but every man she had ever married or dated. He had just got off the phone with Sacha, his father's girlfriend, or roommate, or whatever she was now. It was annoying, but he was happy. 

He heard a knock on the door. He got up to answer it. It was Rory.

"Hey, I've seen you before."

"Can we talk?" Rory asked. He stepped back and she entered Jess's apartment.

Rory was sweating, and it had been a while since she'd done that. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to say what she needed to say to Jess. One thing she didn't add to her debate about coming in here. Jess had lead her over to a chair and she had sat. Almost 10 minutes had passed and she still couldn't figure out how to get started.

"So, I like your place – " Rory started.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here or do I have to guess?" Jess asked bluntly.

"I – " Rory looked him incredulously. He stared at her for a minute, waiting. "I have to go."

Jess stood and stopped her.

"Why did you come here?" Jess asked, pushing Rory back onto the chair and sitting down across from her.

"Are you really getting married?" she already knew the answer though.

"Yeah."

Rory took a deep breath and looked at her shoes.

"Why?"

"I love Lenny. She – "

"You loved me too," Rory looked right into his eyes.

"I did."

"And you don't anymore?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Rory, what are you doing here? You don't love me anymore. You made that very clear. And I don't love you. Why can't you just leave it there?"

"Tell me the truth." Rory said. "Is Lenny just a replacement for me?"

Jess stood up defiantly. "Can you hear yourself? Are you really that vain?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Maybe you should ask yourself the same question." Jess spat. "Logan broke up with you, so now you're looking for a replacement for him. And you're accusing me of substituting someone else for you. Take a long look at yourself, **_Rory_**." He threw out the last word with abhorrence in his voice.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Look, I know how I feel. And I don't have to justify myself to you."

Rory stood up and stormed out; slamming the door behind her so hard it bounced and remained open. Jess didn't move close it. He collapsed onto the couch.

Is there any truth in what Rory said? He asked himself.

"No." he said aloud.

Jess was slightly mad at himself. He couldn't figure out why every time he talked to Rory these days, his feelings came out in one giant angry rush. He never meant to yell at her. She didn't seem to be very receptive to being yelled at recently. But the things she said! Lenny, a replacement for Rory? Rory was just holding Lenny's place until he met his girl. She taught him about love, how to treat a person, and how to be responsible for what you do. But Rory was no Lenny.

Jess looked out the window. Rory's car was still right outside the building. He grabbed his coat and ran down to talk to her.

"Rory – " Jess started. She looked up at him with tearstained cheeks. Rory rolled the passenger side window down.

"What do you want?" she said coarsely.

"Why did you really come here?"

"I wanted the truth."

"I've given it."

"Is she the one?" Rory asked, boring her eyes into his. He looked back at her with the same intensity.

"I've found the one," Jess stated.

* * *

Okay, I had planned to stop it here, but I kind of like this story. I think you should be able to figure out by now that this is not a LIT so please stop asking me if it is. I answer every question by the time I finish. Meaning maybe some more back story about Lenny and her family and some information about Jess that we don't know...   



	5. It's a little late

Fast forward five years. Lenny has just finished law school and is working for United for Life in Washington D.C. She and Jess have been happily married for four years.

* * *

Lenny was walking home after a long day. She had gone to the capital building with Jessica to stake out the Senate meetings. The Senators had gone back and forth like they always did; getting little done. Lenny was exhausted. She had barely been working at this job for a month and already she was ready for a break. She had signed up because she wanted to make a difference in the world; she wanted to be there on the cusp of change, when something finally went right in this country, but so far she had done nothing of any importance. She was always tired and she was making very little money and although Jess's newest book was doing exceptionally well, she still had tons of student loans to think about. And then there was the other thing.

Ahhh, Jess.

He would be getting home tomorrow and she couldn't wait. He had been traveling around New England doing book signings and getting interviewed by The New York Times and The Boston Herald and other big time news outlets. Lenny was so proud of him, when they met he was a struggling writer with just a book store keeping him afloat, now he was a successful novelist.

Lenny didn't notice she had reached her apartment building until she had already passed the front door. She had a lot on her mind.

* * *

Jess watched as the two guys stacked copies of his book on a shelf near the front of the store. He thought about his book. It was a love story, sort of. His characters had gone through the normal drama of being in high school: absentee fathers, trying to steal the girl from another guy, finally being in that relationship and then screwing it up. It was a lot like his life. And how much he had messed up in the past.

He suddenly began to think about Rory. He hadn't thought of her in a very long time. His female lead character was based heavily in her. He knew that she read all of his books and would notice.

Wow, speak of the devil.

"Hello?"

"Jess? Hey it's Rory."

"Rory Gilmore? The Rory Gilmore?"

"Actually it's soon to be Rory Fitzgerald, but yeah! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, but you're engaged?"

"Yes, did you ever meet my friend Marty from Yale?"

"…Naked guy?"

Rory laughed. "Yes. Listen, I've just started working at the Washington Post, and my editor found out that I know you, and he wants me to interview you about your new book! So I was calling to see if I could meet you for coffee and catch up."

"Okay, sure, I get back in town tomorrow, so maybe this weekend?"

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

Jess's cab pulled up in front of his apartment building. He was early, he wondered if he his lovely wife was at home yet. As he slid the key into the lock of his apartment's door, he realized that he should have gotten Lenny something from his trip. Ah well, it's too late now.

"Jess?" Lenny called out from somewhere in the depths of the apartment.

"Honey, I'm home."

She appeared in the doorway from their bedroom with a huge smile on her face. In three steps, he met her with a kiss. After a few seconds she pushed him away excitedly.

"I have a present for ya!" She skipped back into the bedroom.

"I'm the one who went away; shouldn't I be giving you a present?"

"…Did you get me a present?" Lenny called from the bedroom.

"Well… not… exactly."

"I didn't think so." Lenny came back to the living room with a small rectangular box wrapped in brown paper and tied with a piece of string and handed it to him. "Open it, open it!!"

Jess tore off the paper and caught a glimpse at what it had been concealing. He looked up at Lenny's expectant face.

"Really?"

* * *


End file.
